Thoughts on Guest Player Situation

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Sep 19, 2018
928
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What they pay or not is none of your business if it does not affect the number of tournaments you go to. You have 10 on a roster. You will need more than that at some point. If your dd is playing most of the innings, let this pass and enjoy watching your dd play ball.
 
Jul 22, 2015
851
93
I've seen similar situations many times. The truth is that as long as the coach wants the girl to play and she gets to play for free, then she probably won't join the team but will continue to play on her own schedule. My dd did something similar for a while and it was fantastic for us. Free playing time without the commitment; that's hard to beat. With such a small roster playing time shouldn't be an issue, but you are well within your rights to talk to the coach about losing time to her. Just understand the coach has already made it pretty clear who he prioritizes and make future decisions based on that.
 

sluggers

Super Moderator
Staff member
May 26, 2008
7,132
113
Dallas, Texas
In a tournament, how many innings does your DD play?
What position does your DD play?
What position does the guest player play?

He really needs twelve on the team. People do miss tournaments, no matter how committed everyone the players are to the team. (Injury, death in the family, illness, etc.)

IMHO, you should be looking at your DD's playing time and her development.

My DD's 16U TB team's #1 catcher got injured, and they were struggling. An assortment of different kids played behind the plate, and it was pretty bad. They picked up a catcher right before nationals (back when nationals were nationals) and ended up finishing in the top 10. The new kid took playing time away from everyone because nobody was even close to her, so she caught every game. But, no one complained about losing playing time.
 
Last edited:
Jan 28, 2022
11
1
In a tournament, how many innings does your DD play?
What position does your DD play?
What position does the guest player play?

He really needs twelve on the team. People do miss tournaments, no matter how committed everyone the players are to the team. (Injury, death in the family, illness, etc.)

IMHO, you should be looking at your DD's playing time and her development.

My DD's 16U TB team's #1 catcher got injured, and they were struggling. An assortment of different kids played behind the plate, and it was pretty bad. They picked up a catcher right before nationals (back when nationals were nationals) and ended up finishing in the top 10. The new kid took playing time away from everyone because nobody was even close to her, so she caught every game. But, no one complained about losing playing time.
My daughter's main positions are middle infield(mainly short) and she pitches. GP plays SS, pitcher. DD sits 4-5 innings a tournament when GP is there. Usually sits 1 or 2 when she's not. It doesn't affect mound time much, if at all. DD is bumped into a 2nd base rotation with 2 other girls bc GP plays SS.
 

Strike2

Allergic to BS
Nov 14, 2014
2,044
113
DD sits 4-5 innings a tournament
4-5 innings is a full game. That's significant amount considering the roster size, and it would irritate me. The coach seems to want to keep this "guest" happy at your kid's expense. Perhaps that bench time could be spread around a bit more. The fact that your DD is a pitcher (and SS) does give you some leverage. If she's good at both positions, losing her might be a problem for such a small roster. You could start looking for your own guest opportunities.
 
Jul 31, 2015
761
93
My daughter's main positions are middle infield(mainly short) and she pitches. GP plays SS, pitcher. DD sits 4-5 innings a tournament when GP is there. Usually sits 1 or 2 when she's not. It doesn't affect mound time much, if at all. DD is bumped into a 2nd base rotation with 2 other girls bc GP plays SS.

Uh oh.
While 4-5 innings over 5-6 games isn’t a lot the fact that the coach is subbing every inning for his starting SS, who is also one of his rotational pitchers, is a red flag.

Seems like your coach is very enamored with this young lady’s playing abilities and has offered her near 100% playing time, prime real estate on the field, and zero fees just to stick around. The use of the term “under contract” shows how delusional the coach is about her. 12U softball is not the MLB.

But also, she’s not just a guest player, she’s a put option on your DD.

If/when when this player joins full time what do you think your DDs role will be?

*********

Right now, with only 10 players, you have leverage. So you might want to consider putting your foot down - tell the coach that you want x, y, and z when the GP is present. At the extreme you could force him to make a choice - your DD or the GP - but better to set the terms that will make you happy.

And then start looking for another team. That coach does not have your DDs best interests in mind.
 
Last edited:
Jun 8, 2016
16,118
113
IMO you have two options. Figure how your kid can improve enough to challenge the kid for PT at SS (if that is important to her) or find another team 🤷🏽‍♂️
 
Mar 10, 2020
734
63
So my DD tried out for a new TB team last summer and made it. So, at the end of August we have our first tournament and a girl shows up we have never seen, in 1 1/2 months of practices, in a full uniform with her name on the back. We chalked it up to maybe she had been on vacation. In talking with parents over the next 2 weeks we find out that she had been on the team in Spring '21 but left a month in and joined another team, due to a conflict with another girl(who is no longer on the team). Anyway, after a couple of tournaments we asked the coach who says she is guest playing with us(and he prioritizes guests) in the fall every time her team is off (4 out of 8 tournaments)and at the end of fall season she will join. Annoying to find out mid season, but whatever. Fall ends, she doesn't leave her team, says she's under contract with them for a full year not a season. Apparently, now she will be doing the same thing for Spring season with the promise of joining in the fall. In fall we had 11 regular girls and for spring we have 10, all highly committed players. My daughter has played travel years and I've never encountered a situation like this one, and it's a little frustrating. Any thoughts/advice?
The coach calling that guest playing is just lip service. The player left and he's trying to ease her back on the team. By making it worse by calling guest playing. The story is clear other than the coach not handling it well.
 

sluggers

Super Moderator
Staff member
May 26, 2008
7,132
113
Dallas, Texas
My daughter's main positions are middle infield(mainly short) and she pitches. GP plays SS, pitcher. DD sits 4-5 innings a tournament when GP is there. Usually sits 1 or 2 when she's not. It doesn't affect mound time much, if at all. DD is bumped into a 2nd base rotation with 2 other girls bc GP plays SS

If your normal tournament has 6 games with 5 innings per game, then your DD is playing more than 80% of the innings.

Is your DD's main emphasis on pitching? If so, then you have to think about this strategically. What is the defensive alignment behind your DD? How much weaker is it without the GP? It sounds to me that without GP, your DD would be pitching with a 3rd string SS behind her--which is rarely fun.

But, my kids were pitchers. My DDs preferred a strong infield rather than a couple of more at bats.
 

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